Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
Back to contents page
Collaboration in Curriculum Development: The Stakeholder’s
Experience
Presenter: Prof. Johannes Keogh, Ph.D., M.Soc.Sc. (Community
Nursing), RN.
Department of Nursing and Health Sciences.
Fulda University of Applied Sciences.
35 Marquardt St.
36039 Fulda, Germany.
Tel: +49-(0)661-9640-622.
Fax: +49-(0)661-9640-649.
Email: Jan.Keogh@pg.hs-fulda.de
Introduction
The Department of Nursing and Health Studies at the Manukau
Institute of Technology had to develop a new curriculum. This
became necessary due to some changes in the health legislation of
New Zealand and regulation changes made by the New Zealand
Nursing Council.
Bevis and Watson (1989:27) warned against merely moving
“subjects” around to create a new curriculum. This happens
because nurse educators rarely really change curricula, and tend to
stay with the familiar, to “switch, swap, and slide content around”
This was not the case at MIT, as the Department was adamant
about starting with a “clean page” (Interview with the Project
Sponsors, 6 th October 2006). This was easier said than done, as
one tends to be influenced by experiences from the previous
curriculum. However, if one sees designing a new curriculum as a
challenge, and decides to use a structured process, and selects the
team working on this curriculum carefully, it can become a very
satisfying experience (Interview with Project Sponsors, 6 th October
2006).
Developing a completely new curriculum gave the project leaders
the opportunity to embrace an innovative approach, namely
involving the stakeholders from the local region. This process of
collaboration is quite new, and involves quite organisational skills if
the process is to be successful. Collaboration between institutions
is sometimes seen as “just another buzz-word” (Boswell & Cannon,
2005:1), but it could also be defined as being “. . . the process of
toiling directly with other individuals in an attitude of teamwork that
benefits organizations, individuals, and health care consumers”
(Boswell & Cannon, 2005:2).
The big decision was to select the “right” stakeholders and then to
invite them to participate in this process. The student population of
- 448 -